Aries

All Rhodes Lead To Battle!

"Hello Lance." Koga glanced at the man. He was busy polishing his Dragonite's scales when he looked up, smiling at seeing the Elite Four and Gym Leader. "Hey Koga. Did you get those files from Lara?"

"I did. Also have a present for you, courtesy of the thing I was doing yesterday, stopping me from catching the meeting my daughter organised." Koga explained, fishing to grab the Safari Ball. Lance gave the Pokeball in Koga's hand a long look. Koga passed the thick brown envelope, and Lance turned it over once before sliding it on his desk to join the rest of the paperwork. "Thank you."

Koga pressed the release on the Safari Ball, and the small serpent rushed over to Lance squealing. "Apparently a- what did the kid call it, a clan of Dragonites live in the Safari Zone."

Lance's eyes widened as he lifted the serpent, letting it wrap itself around his neck as he gently pat the small Pokemon. His Dragonite gave an amused chuckle-like sound at the Dragon Master, immediately cooing over the Dratini. "He's adorable. Safari Zone, huh?"

The Dragonite perked up at that, nodding in agreement. "I guess it makes sense."

Koga laughed boisterously. "Yes. I suppose."

-

"So, the other day when I was hanging with Koga, I got this Safari Ball," Ash held it up. "I think there's a Pokemon in it, and I don't know what is inside!"

Steven raised an eyebrow, curiosity written on his face. "Really? Not much interesting happened when I was with Janine. She just trained her Ariados, and we worked on her techniques and stuff."

Steven decided he'd save Ash from the stress of the bombshells that Sabrina dropped on them. The kid nodded and threw the Safari Ball up, staring at the Pokemon.

A Scyther glared down Ash. The soft green coloured bug type drew its blades into an X position. Ash raised his Pokedex to the Pokemon, pressing the button to read its entry. "Scyther is blindingly fast. Its blazing speed enhances the effectiveness of the twin scythes on its forearms. This Pokemon's scythes are so effective, they can slice through thick logs in one wicked stroke."

It looked quite proud of the dex entry, swiping through the air as a demonstration. Pinwheel laughed at it. "How did you manage to trip up and get caught?"

"I was boored. You are a trainer, right! I wanna fight!" Scyther huffed. It spread its wings, flapping them to try and demonstrate its wish further. Pinwheel nodded, pulling at Ash's ear a little. He smiled. "I'll try my best!"

Scyther seemed slightly baffled and nodded. "If you can speak, then just call me my name. Rhodes."

"What moves do you know then, Rhodes?" Ash said, in Kantonian this time, so Steven could follow along to the conversation. Rhodes the Scyther leapt up to demonstrate. It did a dramatic, flashy movement that was generally associated with Swords Dance, using Slash, then Night Slash, then X Scissors on a nearby rock. By the end of the repeated strikes, the rock was broken apart. Ash clapped.

"Wow!" Ash grinned. "You're totally welcome on the team. Want to meet the others?"

Rhodes nodded.

"Come on out, guys!" Ash threw his Pokeballs in the air. Gale was the first to investigate the newcomer to the group, pecking at the Pokemon curiously. She flapped at the Bug type, squawking about her being the second in command of the team. Pinwheel cackled at the reaction.

Narcissus sleepily rested as the chaos occurred around him. Pyre poked Rhodes curiously, cautious to keep his flaming tale away from the bug type. Neptune waved his tail back and forth as he fist-to-blade bumped Rhodes. Mica seemed disinterested in the new member of the team, vying to instead chat to Steven about Sabrina.